Travel Vibes: My Trip to Atlanta

The main reason for my trip was for my nephews’ graduation from high school. A proud moment for the family to experience as they will soon enter college. We actually attended the graduation at the school they will both be attending in the fall, the University of West Georgia.

The post graduation dinner was at Chef Rob’s Caribbean Cafe & Lounge located in Sandy Springs. The spacious restaurant had great food and service, we even noticed the owner had a lounge right next door. My sister and few other friends seem to be regulars and if you can’t get to the restaurant they also have a food truck bearing the same name. I had the oxtails with rice and peas, Cheeks’ favorite so I could share with her. I did get to taste the curry goat as well and it was awesome.

Since it was Atlanta‘s Carnival weekend there were a number of Caribbean events that took place around  the city we got to attend the Guinness Live It Up party filled with Caribbean art, Guinness mixed drinks (The Classy Blonde was my drink of choice) and sounds of reggae, dancehall, soca and Afro beats provided by Max Glazer and others. We also enjoyed a performance by local dancehall artist Dreggae. He did a great job a moving the crowd and I was glad I could actually enjoy the lyrics and hear him clearly. Would have been an even better performance if he was on the stage though, only the crown directly in front could see him since he performed in the dance floor area.

I have a few friends that also live outside of Atlanta and we got to spend time with them and their families as well. We also cut a cake for Cheeks’ 6th birthday. The special made strawberry shortcake was made by my sister in-law who owns a Cakes & All that Jazz, if you need a cake definitely reach out to her, not only did the cake look amazing, it tasted really great too.

World of Coca Cola is a museum with the history of the classic American beverage. It showed how they made coca cola, the secret formula chamber and the history/controversy surround the secret recipe when they launched. As a marketer, I was super inspired by the visual  advertisements, sponsored moments, font type exploration and the abundant artifacts used to promote Coca Cola that from inception to current times. Of course we got to take a variety of flavor around the world.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was closed by the time we got to it, but we were able to walk around the area that Dr. King grew up in, including his childhood home and church. The MLK Memorial also included the burial grounds that he and his wife Corretta Scott King rest in peace.

The Walking Dead Atlanta tour was pretty cool, the guide took us to specific filming locations throughout the city. If you are a fan of the show we saw a lot of locations from sea on one and the revisited sites from season four and five like  the downtown area where Glenn and Rick meet, Terminus the cannibal camp, The CDC, the hospital Rick woke up from his coma to find the zombie apocalypse, the “Vatos” camp and more.

Classic Paintball was more for my nephews, they had never been to play paintball and always wanted to go. The pain all facility had five different fields and we played as walk-ons so we were mixed in with some of the more seasoned players, you know the ones with their own gear looking like they’re ready for battle! Of course we had an amazing time and are looking forward to going back.

One of our family friend’s parents recently opened a new Jamaican restaurant called Country Pepper Restaurant in Suwanee (outside of Atlanta) We had to stop by and support before leaving!

I had one of the best times in Atlanta this trip! I love the history and attractions of the city and can’t wait to go back again and do some things we didn’t get to like shopping at a few boutiques, visiting Savannah, the Jazz festival getting to the Atlanta Food Truck park and more. Guess I’ll save those for my next visit!